Wheels of cycles and the like conventionally comprise a hub, an intermediate connecting part and a rim defining a section adapted to support and retain a peripheral tire, whether the latter be of the solid or inflatable type.
Ordinarily, such wheels are constructed from metal pieces shaped specifically for the intrinsic function of the three constituent elements.
Although constructions with a hub, spokes or fairing and a metallic sectioned rim have given satisfaction, it has been found that they did not respond positively to the requirements of performances, due either to their weight, to their suppleness or, on the contrary, to their high rigidity.
It is to that end that, among a certain number of solutions of improvements, a construction has appeared, based on synthetic material including, most often, a metal hub or hub casing, embedded in a body of the fairing type with walls which are parallel or convergent with respect to the plane of the wheel. Such a fairing is most often made from composite materials including two walls based on impregnated and polymerized fabric reinforcing and stiffening a structural core of foam, generally of the closed cell type. Such a wheel is completed by a belt or hoop defining an outer profile of a rim most often allowing a glued tire to be fitted.
Such a construction makes it possible to obtain a light, resistant wheel which, however, presents two drawbacks preventing it from being marketed on a large scale.
The first follows from the dynamic reaction of the wheel in movement and, more particularly, from its sensitivity with respect to side winds, due to the presence of the fairing.
The second is economic and follows from the high cost of producing such a wheel.
It should, in addition, be indicated that such a wheel, despite the presence of the inflatable tire, is characterized by a certain stiffness often incompatible with the domains of use when not racing.
It is an object of the invention to overcome the drawbacks set forth hereinabove by proposing a novel wheel rim structure of composite materials, more particularly adapted for cycles and the like and which can be produced at a reasonable cost price for all domains of use and application, and to provide a particularly robust and reactive rim, especially of considerable solidity and lightness never attained up to the present time.
Another object of the invention is to propose a novel rim structure which may be employed equally well for a wheel with spokes, rods, and even fairings, and to receive tubeless or inner-tube type tires provided that the basic structure has been slightly modified.